Cecilia of Normandy

Cecilia of Normandy (or Cecily; c. 1056 – 30 July 1126) was a French abbess, thought to be the eldest daughter[3][4] of William the Conqueror and Matilda of Flanders.[5][6]

Cecilia
Abbess of Holy Trinity[2]
Cecilia depicted on the family tree with her sisters
Bornc. 1056
Normandy
Died30 July 1126 (aged 69–70)
Caen
HouseNormandy
FatherWilliam the Conqueror
MotherMatilda of Flanders

Life

She was the sister of William II[7] and Henry I of England. She was very close to her other brother, Robert Curthose.[8] She was given a high education in the arts, Latin, rhetoric and logic by the scholar Arnulf of Chocques.[9]

Cecilia was entered into the Abbey of the Holy Trinity of Caen at a young age by her parents.[10] She was placed in the convent in June 1066, at the formal inauguration of the convent, which was founded by her mother as a penance for the marriage, which initially regarded as Prohibited degree of kinship, as well as during the preparations of the invasion of England.[9]

To give a child to the church in this manner was common for parents during this time period, but a daughter of the nobility was often treated very well, and allowed her own household and confessor as well as allowed to receive guests in private in her rooms, which was more liberated than for most unmarried noblewomen not in convents. After having been placed in the convent, she was educated by the abbess Matilda.[11][12]

In 1100, she was visited by her brother Robert Curthose on his return from the First Crusade. He presented her and her abbey with a captured Saracen banner.[13]

Cecilia had a successful career at the convent. Cecilia was possibly the only child to be present on the funeral of her mother in 1083, as it took place in her convent, and no other child is confirmed to have been present.[9] She introduced a number of improvements to the convent and functioned as the coadjutor or deputy of the abbess, her relative Matilda.[9] She succeeded her relative Matilda as Abbess of the Abbey of Sainte-Trinité in Caen in 1112.[14]

Her good reputation was described by Baldric of Dol, archbishop of Dol, and the poet Hildebert of Le Mans, who referred to her as "a queen, a goddess and a royal virgin, who married a heavenly husband".[9]

Cecilia died on 30 July 1126 in Caen, France. She was buried within the abbey walls. Her tomb is walled up without any opening being left through which it can be discovered. Her father was also buried in Caen.

References
  1. The Ecclesiastical History of England and Normandy, Volume 2. Page 115.
  2. The Ecclesiastical History of England and Normandy, Volume 2. Page 115.
  3. It is also possible that Adeliza was William's eldest daughter.
  4. James Panton. Historical Dictionary of the British Monarchy. Page 93.
  5. Lives of the Princesses of England from the Norman Conquest by Mary Anne Everett Green. Pages 1–13.
  6. Kenneth J. Panton: Historical Dictionary of the British Monarchy, Scarecrow Press, 2011, ISBN 978-0810857797
  7. David C. Douglas: William the Conqueror, p. 395
  8. William M. Aird. Robert `Curthose', Duke of Normandy (C. 1050–1134). The acclaimed biography of the eldest son of William the Conqueror, whose failure to secure the kingdom of England has overshadowed his role in capturing Jerusalem during the First Crusade.
  9. Tracy Joanne Borman: Queen of the Conqueror: The Life of Matilda, Wife of William I, Bantam Books, 2012
  10. Historia Ecclesiastica by Orderic Vitalis
  11. Churches and Churchmen in Medieval Europe by C. N. L. Brooke
  12. The history of Normandy and of England till 1101, Volume 3 by Francis Palgrave. Page 526.
  13. TURNER, RALPH V. (1990). "THE CHILDREN OF ANGLO-NORMAN ROYALTY AND THEIR UPBRINGING". Medieval Prosopography. 11 (2): 17–52. ISSN 0198-9405.
  14. Douglas: William the Conqueror, pp. 393–395
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